Well we got checked back into the hospital on Tuesday and things have gone very well the last couple of days. Tyler's only gotten sick once from the chemo. With the way he's been acting, you'd never know what he's going through. He's going on with life as usual.
Things have been fairly quiet today. Tyler has gotten out in the halls quite a bit. I took him in one of the little ride on cars and then when Grammy and Papa got here, they took him out too. He had been in a really good mood but decided to change that when they got here. He was super tired but wouldn't go to sleep! He was too excited to see them. :) Grampy and Grams are here visiting right now so of course he fell asleep! Little stinker.The dr. talked to us earlier. She said because he's starting this round of chemo with better levels than he did with the last round, we might be able to leave on the day of his last dose of chemo which would be Saturday. That would be nice! His counts have come down since we've been here but they're still good. We'll just have to keep an eye on them and hope he doesn't get that rash again! In a little under 2 weeks, they will be collecting his stem cells to see if they can "clean" it and re-use it when it comes time for his bone marrow transplant. It's been explained to us that a bone marrow transplant is also known as a stem cell transplant. They put a catheter in his groin area then take the blood and put it in a centrifuge which separates the cells they need from other blood components and plasma. The things they don't need will be returned back to him through the catheter. This process may need to be repeated over several days so they can get enough of what they need.
A few days ago the dr. gave me a "map" of Tyler's treatment process which showed the stem cell harvest being sometime between next week and the 19th. It also showed the surgery to remove the main tumor being scheduled for the middle of March. Of course, they will need to do a scan and some testing first to make sure the chemo is actually working and shrinking the tumors. That testing will probably be around the same time as the stem cell harvesting. I am so scared for the results of those tests. I am still praying for a miracle. Praying that all the tumors will be completely gone and his bone marrow will be clean! The scan will also determine if the surgeons feel confident in doing the surgery here or if it'll have to be done in Seattle. If it is done in Seattle, we will be coming home afterwards to complete his chemo here in Spokane then heading back around May for the transplant if all goes according to plan. I'm not totally sure how long he'll be in Seattle. Some of it depends on if we want to take part in a bone marrow transplant study. In the study, he would have 2 or 3 transplants instead of 1 which would extend our stay. We haven't gone over all the specifics of the study yet to know which direction to take.
As things change I will keep you all updated.

Kristine